What we learned from Greece vs England at OAKA

 What we learnt from Greece vs England at OAKA

By Stephen Kountourou

A first misstep will not necessarily define a team, and results in the future. That is, as long as the players and the manager learn from past mistakes and move forward. 

Head coaches routinely say that you learn more from defeats than victories, and that is what fans of the Ethniki will be hoping after a disappointing night in the Athens Olympic Stadium against England, who ran out 0-3 winners.

Ironically this was the result people had expected away in Wembley Stadium, with a few chances for Greece, and England asserting their dominants and running out comfortable winners. We all know what transpired there. But with a 60 thousand capacity OAKA, there was hope that Ivan Jovanvic’s men could perform another miracle, secure the top spot in the group and ensure promotion to League A in the Nations League. 

Sadly the Three Lions did not underestimate their opponents this time. A much more functional formation, with players in their correct positions, ended Greece’s year-long undefeated streak with ease, despite numerous first-team players pulling out of international duty.

Greece seemed to struggle to get any rhythm in the first 20 minutes. The attempt to soak up the pressure from the away side’s attacks and regain the ball and counter, which had worked wonders during the previous encounter, was this time ineffective. 

Instead, the Ethniki were too slow to regain possession, allowing England much more space to attack and create meaningful chances, and when they did win possession back there was a lack of purpose in passing and running and creating attempts on goal in the final third. 

Conceding early also didn’t help matters, with Chelsea winger Noni Madueke making mincemeat of Kostas Tsimikas before finding the first goal scorer Ollie Watkins. Tsimikas himself created the first big chance for Greece in the match after his shot was well saved by Jordan Pickford.

Speaking of individual players, some didn’t have good nights on Thursday. Tsimikas, Rota, Bakasetas, Masouras and Pavlidis struggled to make a big impact during the game. It will be interesting to see who is given another chance against Finland and who is dropped. 

Of the two full-backs, Tsimikas is the more likely to be benched with Giannoulis looking much sharper when he was subbed on. Rota will probably keep his place, for now. 

Bakasetas is the captain so while he was not impactful against England he will start. Pavlidis will most likely rotate out for Ioannidis.

Masouras is the biggest question mark. He has not been good for both the national team and Olympiakos for a while but Greece are lacking another true right-winger to replace him for the long term. If he doesn’t start in the final match of the Nations League campaign, it could be Pelkas or Konstantelias who replaces him.

Zafeires is more excusable, due to playing in an unfamiliar position as a replacement for the suspended Dimitris Kourbelis. Some have called for Vlachodimos to be dropped for one of Tzolakis or Mandas, but despite conceding three, one of them being an own goal, the shot-stopper didn’t do much wrong on the night.

There were standout performances too, however. Kourlerakis on numerous occasions performed his role excellently in defence and is showing why the position is his long term. Tzolis caused problems for Kyle Walker on the left flank and was unfortunate not to convert a couple of his chances. 

Ioannidis, who came on, looked much more mobile in the build-up and very nearly scored. Pelkas also deserves credit for making an impact off the bench in driving the team forward more. 

Jovanovic will only be informed more by this game, who should start, who should be called up and part of the squad but not the first team, and whose time in the national team might be running out.

To summarise what we have learnt from matchday five: 

Firstly, to their credit, England didn’t underestimate us this time. They came out and played with a serious team and looked to reassert their dominance in our Nations League group which, barring a draw or loss to Ireland in the final game of the campaign at Wembley, they have almost certainly done. Also, at the end of the day, even a rotated England is still one of the best national sides in Europe which most teams would struggle against.

Second, the Ivan Jovanovic era is still young and after four impressive victories a defeat, as said before, could be a good wake-up call to the squad and the manager, not only for who should be called up to play for the national team, but how Greece approaches these bigger opponents in the future. 

The 1-2 victory over the Three Lions away proved what our players are capable of. But the shades of mental fragility in big moments, which cost them the game at OAKA, and the playoff final against Georgia, are still there. This is something Jovanovic must work to remove as soon as possible. 

Lastly, a victory against Finland away is a must. Even in the unlikely event of finishing top of the group, Greece mustn't drop points on matchday six as it could mean getting a tougher opponent for the Nations League promotion playoffs. 

A defeat would be particularly dangerous, as there is still the small possibility, if other results go against them, that the Ethniki could fall out of pot two for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. While this situation is very much in their hands, the players and the manager cannot afford to take any risks on Sunday night, if they want to give themselves the best chance, in the near future, of qualifying for their first international tournament for over a decade.

@SteveKountourou

Hellas Football